Animals poached once — and now, again

Thieves take more than 20 mounted trophies from DNR in St. Paul

The animals mounted on this Turn In Poachers wall of shame display were removed from the panels and stolen, the DNR said.

Once the thieves cut the locks of a gate and trailer at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in St. Paul, they unscrewed more than 20 animal mounts from the Turn in Poachers "Wall of Shame."

The 18 shoulder-mount trophy bucks, a bear head and other mounts weren't that heavy, but they were "big and awkward," Capt. Greg Salo, DNR enforcement division Region 3 manager, said Tuesday.

"It would have taken quite a bit of time," he said.

And it wouldn't have been easy to get them off the property. "I don't even know if a pickup truck could take all of them out," Salo said. "I think it would have to be a truck and trailer, or a couple of trips."

The stolen mounts are worth a lot collectively, Salo said, and "they're priceless to us."

"It's a piece of Minnesota," said Maj. Roger Tietz, operations support manager for the DNR enforcement division. "What's hard for me is these animals were poached, but we recovered them and told their stories and showed the impact of poaching in Minnesota."

The break-in occurred sometime between 5:30 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Monday, police said. Information about a possible suspect or suspects was not available.

The intruders smashed windows in several vehicles and cut padlocks on trailers and garage doors and the front gate, the DNR said. Several thousand dollars worth of chainsaws and power tools were missing from a storage area of the DNR's Region 3 office at 1200 Warner Road.

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Also taken were eight sets of aluminum ramps for snowmobile trailers — "brand new, shiny, just put on there last week," Salo said. "Those would probably stick out at any scrap yard."

Turn in Poachers, a nonprofit organization of conservationists concerned about poaching problems, has three Wall of Shame displays that travel around the state. They are actual animals recovered from poachers. The group displays them to show that they are trophies that otherwise could have been taken legally.

The stolen mounts were expected at upcoming events, including the Minnesota Sportsmen's Show, which starts Thursday at the St. Paul RiverCentre.

Another Wall of Shame will be there, though it doesn't include as many animals, Salo said. He was trying to gather photos of the stolen deer mounts, so visitors to the show can see them.

"That's really going to help us solve it — the other hunters out there who hear those guys talking about it," Salo said.

Also stolen were two sets of antlers, a walleye and a turkey tail feather, Salo said.

Tietz said he's not sure whether the thieves targeted the mounted animals or happened upon them.

"I could understand them having grabbed one or two heads, but it shocks my conscience they took all of them," he said. "It's unusual property to take, and it requires a lot of time and energy to dismantle and take."

But Tietz said it also "seems like an oddity that they would have cleaned us out, unless they knew it was there and had an outlet for it."

It's hard to say how much the mounted animals are worth.

Police received a preliminary estimate that the items could be valued at as much as $40,000, but the DNR was still trying to figure it out Tuesday.

Doug Bermel, president of TIP's board of directors, said the mounts alone are probably worth $500 and that the antlers could range from $1,000 to $10,000, depending on the size.

But Bermel said, "I can't imagine what you would even do with these antlers. They're easily traced. You can't ever display them or put them up anywhere. There's pictures of them that can be matched."

Tietz and Bermel said they hope the mounted animals will be found, and Bermel said TIP wouldn't be making immediate plans to replace the wall.

"If our crooks don't know what they're worth, they might call a taxidermist," Tietz said. He asked that if anyone gets "unusual calls about deer heads," he or she contact the DNR.

The mounted animals are state property, Tietz said. After they're seized in poaching cases, the DNR provides the animals to TIP. The organization worked with taxidermists who donated their time to mount them, and then TIP put the wall together, Tietz said.

"Having stood by the wall and talked to the public, everyone just has that 'Wow' moment," Tietz said. "That's a pile of really big animals. That, for us, was our anti-poaching message, and it's been compromised temporarily."

Chris Niskanen contributed to this report. Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262.

HOW TO HELP

Anyone with information about the case can call St. Paul police at 651-291-1111 or the DNR at 651-259-5838.